Skulduggery wearily entered his living room and sat on the sofa,
followed by Dexter Vex, Saracan Rue and Ghastly Bespoke, who all pulled up chairs facing him. He was wearing a facade with a clean shaven face, light green eyes and a rather odd looking nose, that gave him a slightly bewildered three of then were grinning ear to ear as they waited for Skulduggery to speak.
"I don't know what you want," he said, taking off his hat and setting it down on the sofa beside him, "but there are also some things that I do know. For example, I know that you three are dying to get something off your chest. I know that I'm not going to enjoy this. And I know that that shirt is an abomination to fashion everywhere."
The smile on Vex's face disappeared for a second. " I liked this shirt," he muttered.
"It's purple"
"A lovely shade of purple, if I do say so myself." Said Vex. "Ghastly, you're the tailor. Tell him."
"It's an interesting fashion statement," muttered Ghastly.
Vex sagged. "You don't like my shirt. I'm wearing a horrible purple shirt."
Rue sighed and turned to Skulduggery. " Your attempts to avoid this aren't going to work. We've all being waiting to talk to you about this for a long time, and you're going to listen."
"Why did I agree to this," sighed Skulduggery, shaking his head. "Right. What do you three want?"
"I'm disappointed," mocked Vex, starting to smile again. "You are meant to be the Great Skeleton Detective, after all."
"Anyway," added Rue, "I would hardly call this a great mystery."
"Ghastly, how about you tell me what these two idiots are talking about," asked Skulduggery, with a slight hint of amusement in his voice. "I, unlike them, have places to be and people to see."
"Oh, we know," replied Ghastly, smiling nearly as much as Vex and Rue now. "So we won't keep you here too long. All we want to do is offer you our services."
"Services?" Skulduggery said, sounding genuinely confused for the first time since the conversation had started. "What kind of services exactly?"
"Well..." began Vex, still grinning happily. "We know its been a while since..." Vex trailed off, attempting to figure out how to put his thoughts into words."Really Skulduggery, it's so obvious."
"You honestly don't know what we're talking about?" asked Rue, sounding slightly startled, which was surprising enough in itself. Rue knew things. Taking him by surprise was not a common occurrence.
"Haven't the foggiest," Skulduggery said," So can you get on with it so I can get back to the glamorous life I lead?"
"Oh it's nothing really," explained Ghastly, looking highly amused." The three of us just thought that if you, well, if you needed some wingmen, we would be happy to help."
The room went silent for about three seconds, before the three men couldn't take it anymore, and began roaring with laughter at the expression on Skulduggery's face.
"He really doesn't know what we're talking about, " gasped Ghastly, clutching his sides and taking in sharp gasps of air every few seconds.
"The look on his face!" roared Vex, wiping tears from his eyes as he tried to keep a straight face and failed miserably.
After many minutes of the three men trying, and failing, to stop laughing, they managed to sit down again, only chuckling the odd time, as Skulduggery sat with a stunned expression, on the sofa, unmoving and uncertain looking. Taking a breath, he deactivated his facade and stared at each man in turn.
"What are you talking about?" he asked, sounding very unlike himself as he nervously laced his thin, bony fingers together.